Arm Wrestle
by Morgana Maeve
Summary: Axel.Lexaeus: There are no heroes among darkness.


Arm Wrestle

Morgana Maeve

8/5/08 – Axel/Lexaeus. This'll be the pairing that breaks the Internet.

Warnings: Meh.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I wish I got paid for this though. (But if my payment is dependent on reviews, then I'm sunk.)

.o.o.

The two sit and ignore each other, but Lexaeus' bulk is impossible to overlook, and eventually, Axel shifts and poses a question.

"Why do they call you the 'Silent Hero'?" Lexaeus pays no attention and continues to play with that blasted metal contraption, pieces clicking in annoying happiness as the behemoth tries to fit them together.

Minutes tick by and Axel crosses his legs, truly uncomfortable for the first time in this Organization.

"Know why they call me 'The Flurry of Dancing Flames'?" he asks slyly, sparks crackling around his arm and dying sullenly on the white table. This catches Lexaeus' attention for the space of about a millisecond; his eyes return to his puzzle before any emotion can be discerned from them.

Axel resists the childish urge to stomp his feet.

They sit in the same silence they've been sitting in for the past two hours, ever since Axel popped around a corner and found Lexaeus deep in whatever it was he was doing. Since that moment, Axel has changed his position seventeen times, beginning with him straddling the chair and ending in this newest position, feet resting on the table, oblivious to the crud that has fallen off his boots.

With a gentle swipe, Lexaeus displaces the offending feet off the table, upsetting Axel's balance and bringing the chair legs crashing forward.

"Hey! Easy there!" The comment garners a rather unsettling twitch at the giant's shoulders, and Axel wonders if the boulder sitting across from him is laughing or if it's just a product of two stubborn metal bits.

Axel shifts again drawing his knees to his chest, tempting his body to roll out of the chair. His is too spindly to curl up into a true ball, and his elbow stick out ungainly like sharp little spikes. "Is that all you ever do?" he complains, resting his chin on his hands. Really, this is becoming monotonously boring.

Lexaeus makes no attempt to consider an answer. All is silent except for those maddening bits.

"Maybe you just can't talk," Axel baits him. "Maybe you've got no voice. Maybe you don't like your voice. What's the matter? Voice too high for a Nobody like you?" He doesn't even look up. "Oh, I get it," Axel says suddenly, leaning forward, elbows inching across the table. "You're deaf!"

Absolutely no reaction. He might as well be talking to rock.

And so, to fill the silence, Axel babbles and taunts.

"I don't know why they insist on the 'hero' bit," he drawls. "We're not heroes. We're the bad guys. At least, we are from the traditional point of view. Who know what some crazy girls think, right?" With that, he smirks, masculine lips turning up in a wicked promise that had brought him more trouble than it was worth in a past life. "We could probably get any girl we want." He takes in Lexaeus' craggy features, large nose and square jaw-line, nothing like his own angular face. "Well, I could, at any rate."

Lexaeus smiles, white teeth contrasting with such a ruddy complexion, and Axel's arm slips off the table in shock.

"I thought you liked Roxas," he says in his gravelly voice, and Axel's jaw drops open.

"Who told you that?" he exclaims in panicked surprise, leaping out of his chair, spider-legs unfolding beneath him.

Lexaeus presses a finger to his small lips. "A birdie," he answers, and Axel feels himself deflate, sinking back weakly into his chair.

"You shouldn't be allowed to say that," Axel says. "It's weird and disturbing for a guy your size to talk about…" He refuses to let the word be heard from his mouth.

"I am not allowed to talk about gentle creatures?"

"It'd be less weird if you talked about bashing people's heads in."

"Is that all you think of?" Lexaeus puts down the troublesome metal. Axel flounders for a minute, ungracefully trying to find an answer.

"What else is there?" he finally says in exasperation, and Lexaeus frowns, drumming his fingers on the table lightly. The table rocks on its abused legs.

"There's more to life than mere violence," he says calmly, and Axel laughs, a harsh bark that makes Lexaeus' eyebrows rise.

"This isn't life," Axel sneers bitterly.

"It's the best we have," Lexaeus states serenely.

"You're too nice," grumbles Axel. "No wonder you don't ever get sent out. You probably can't even fight."

"Would you care to try me?" Axel's head snaps up, eyes questioning, but Lexaeus' face is smiling without a hint of malice.

"Well fine," he says, dangerous glint in Axel's eyes, heat emanating from his body. But the larger Nobody shakes his head and places his elbow on the table, hand extended out.

"Not like that, Axel," he explains patiently. "A simple test of strength, that's all."

"You want me to arm wrestle you?" Axel says incredulously, eyeing that sleeved arm. It is almost three times the size of his own.

"What? You said yourself that I couldn't fight."

"There's a difference between fighting and brute strength."

"I see. I'm sure Roxas would agree with you."

Axel's hand is suddenly grasping his, other arm bracing that light, bony body against the table. "Bring it," he says. Lexaeus continues to smile that disarming smile.

It takes less than five minutes. Lexaeus counts down, but the defeat still takes Axel by surprise. One minute, Axel's hand is in front of his face, shaking in tension, and then the next, it is slammed into the table, crushed beneath a massive strength.

"Ow," is all Axel can say.

Lexaeus returns to his metal pieces while Axel nurses his bruised arm. The skin is already turning purple.

"That wasn't even the half of it," Lexaeus says mildly.

"Oh, shut up," Axel snaps disagreeably. "You've killed my arm."

"I'm sure Roxas won't mind patching it up for you."

.o.o.

I'm watching 'The Swan Princess' trilogy on Youtube. There's something wrong with me.

I just realized. This is as close to fluff as I'll ever get.

R&R makes no difference anymore. I give up.


End file.
